


Leaving a Life Behind

by Emma4Prez



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-05-30 02:16:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6404620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emma4Prez/pseuds/Emma4Prez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who is Harry Potter's father? Hades comes to visit the abused boy at his relatives house...and his life will change forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Harry was sweating profusely as he pulled at the offending weed from his excuse for an Aunt's garden. His hands ached. The boy heaved once more at the weed, putting all his weight into it, it finally came free. Holding up the wretched weed in triumph he gave a whoop of joy at his success. He held the plant up to the sun examining his trophy; his emerald eyes drinking in the structure of the plant, delicate veins that ran through the leaves like roads on a map, and the delicate white hairs that grew from the stem, tickling Harry's slick skin. He dropped the plant on the ground, wiping his dirty hands on his baggy hand-me-down pants. He stood, the backs of his legs tingled from the lack of blood flow. He looked back at the prison of a house he would never call home, then out at the road, the heat creating a mirage on the flat surface. Tilting his head, he looked at the sun once more, shielding his eyes from its harsh rays. He wondered when he would get back to Hogwarts or more importantly the people at Hogwarts.

Lost in thought Harry turned his back to the street and walked back into the hands of his relatives. "You are tracking dirt all over my clean carpet," Petunia screeched, Harry rolled his eyes and looked behind his checking for foot prints. Unless her Aunt had eyes had superhuman eye sight (which when it came to dirt Harry suspected she did) there was not dirt. "Out! Out! Out! Get your dirty feet out of my house! You little Freak" the door to 4 Privet Drive was slammed in Harry's face, not that he minded this meant no more chores for the whole day; this was a cause for celebration. It was on rare occasions that Harry got out of chores and it was only morning, this meant he could go to the park just down the road.

Parents stared at the lonely, raven haired boy as he sat on the swing not bothering to give the swing any propulsion. Harry came to the park to the park to escape the chaos of his prison. It was a place where he could mule over the hurtful words and fists that he received in captivity, from his Aunt and Uncle. It was never his intention to be a freak, he doubted it was Dudley's intention to be a big fat glob of useless tissue but he was. Why did his Aunt and Uncle hate him? What did he ever do?

'You did nothing wrong my son.' Harry looked around widely, he jumped off the swing, tripping over his feet and ended up sprawled on the woodchip underneath the swing. He spat out a little piece of wood out of his mouth.

'But that was your fault' he heard chuckling. "Did you hear that?" he asked a mother who was helping her little girl across the monkey bars. Her head nearly twisted off her shoulders as she looked at the quite boy who never spoke, her eyes the comical size of saucers.

"No, I didn't hear anything" she knew this boy had nasty rumours floating around about him. That he was a delinquent with dyslexia and ADHD. He exuded a dangerous aura. She got her daughter and left the park.

Harry sighed, 'This is what it is always like for our family, Harry' Harry jumped, what was going on? He was finally going crazy?

'You're not going crazy' Harry looked around. The air in front of him shimmered.

"Hello Harry, I am your father God of the Underworld, I am Hades" said the strange man. He stood a many feet taller than Harry; rings decorated his fingers glinting in the sunlight. Harry looked up into the pale face that was so similar to his own except for one vital difference, the eyes, Hades' eyes were black all the way to the pupil, while Harry had beautiful emerald eyes. "You may know me better as James Potter."

Harry's jaw dropped this man was an exact replica of James Potter. On closer inspection Harry noticed subtle differences, Hades was taller than the father that he saw in the scrap book Hagrid gave him, and James' eyes were hazel not pitch black. Harry looked down, shuffling his feet, his family was dead, there was not getting them back. Tears began to fall down the skinny boy's face.

"Harry look at me. Please." Harry did not look up, "Harry please" James( or was it Hades?) gently took the boy's chin, lifting the tear stained face to look him straight in the eyes. "I am sorry for all you have suffered. It is my entire fault I was not allowed to interfere in your life. When that meddler Dumbledore took you to the Dursley's on the premise of blood ward, pah! No such thing, I would know I am a God." The rest was mumbled swear words in Ancient Greek.

'I'm sorry but Greek Gods? Hades? Blood wards? What are you talking about?' Harry thought this man, even if he was his father, was completely bonkers.

"Come Harry; sit down on the bench with me." He walked over to the bench and lowered himself onto the seat; he patted the spot next to him. "Do you know anything about Greek Mythology?" Hades asked.

"We learned some basics in primary school" Harry said with not a lot of enthusiasm. He looked around the park there was no one in sight.

"You know of demi-gods?" Hades asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I have heard of Hercules" Harry said looking at his hands. Hades frowned.

"Urgg Hercules, pretentious bastard…I-I mean he wasn't very nice." If Hades wasn't deathly pale he would have blushed.

"Harry, your mother and I loved each other very muc-"

"Stop right there," Harry interrupted with a face, "I believe your my father and I don't want to hear the details, but the God thing…not so much."

"Oh?" Hades smirked. He held his hand out and a skeleton climbed out of the ground on unsteady feet, and bowed to Hades.

"Yes my Lord Hades, Hello my Prince Harry." He was dressed in a Victorian outfit including the wig, it look pretty ridiculous.

"Okay I believe you." He was not the least bit scared of the skeleton, proof of his heritage. Harry looked up at his father and leaned on his shoulder closing his eyes. Hades was surprised by the contact, and tensed. After a few seconds he relaxed. "Do you think I can do stuff like that?" Harry asked inquisitively.

"With practice you can harness your powers" Hades said carefully. "Harry people do not…like me nor my children in Olympus. They think of me as a cruel ruler. I hope you can see that I am not." Harry saw vulnerability in the God of the Underworld that Harry doubted anyone had seen before.

"I want you to do something for me Harry" he looked down at his son, putting a comforting hand on his back. "I want you to go to summer camp, everything will be explained there. It's the only place you will be safe from the monster that will inevitably chase you" Harry nodded.

"How will I get there?" Harry inquired. Looking up at his father, he was slowly becoming comfortable with Hades though out the conversation.

"I will send you there. One more thing before you go. Don't tell people you're my son, I am not well received on Olympus."

"Will I see you again?" Harry asked looking up at his father.

"Of course, you can come down to the Underworld at some time if you like." Hades looked hopeful.

"I will" Harry said with more than a little conviction.

"Okay. It's time to send you off to Camp Half Blood." Hades stood grabbing Harry by the arm and giving him a dagger. It was pitch black, the blade seemed to suck the light away, but it still glittered in the sun's rays."Portus" Hades whisper with a flourish of his hand over the dagger. "Hold on to the dagger my son." Harry touched the hilt; he felt a pull behind his navel.

Harry Potter had left Surrey to become a hero.


	2. Hello Camp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry arrives at camp and there's a boy pointing a sword at his throat...great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I started this story when I was 13 year old I am now 18 and just dropped out of uni. (Hey now guys I just couldn't do it law stripped me of my morals and a wish to live) I posted this story a few months ago and I noticed a few reviews/comments so I decided to throw a short chapter together to see if this is what you guys were hoping for and if I should continue. THANK YOUUUU <3

_‘That’s one big tree,’_ Harry thought, his eyes trailing up the beautiful pine, taking in all of its knots and crevices.  His hands ghosting over the bark, an awful smell assaulted his nose, and he noticed that the pine needles on the lower branches were browning. Some of the pine needles making their slow, feathery descent to the ground. Harry didn’t know why, but this tree was slowly dying, to him it felt like some kind of perversion to see such a strong tree withering away. Sadness clenched at his heart, it’s cruel fingers tightening, making it harder to breath.

The tree had been poisoned. Harry was transfixed by the dying tree, he did not see the figures sprinting towards him clad in Greek armour, or the huge metal dragon that was exuding steam and screamed danger.  In hindsight Harry really needed to work on being more observant.

“Hey! You there! Who are you?! Get away from that tree!” the nameless warrior screeched, shocking Harry out of his reverie.  

Blushing Harry took a step away from the pine, “Erm, I’m Harry, Harry Potter,” he was slightly panicked as this warrior was pointing a sword at him, it was some kind of bronze that glinted dangerously in the sun, “is-is this Camp Half-Blood?” Harry inquired moving slightly to the left trying to manoeuvre away from the wicked blade. He wouldn’t admit it to anyone but this boy standing in front of him was terrifying, his wand had been locked up with the rest of his school gear back at the Dursely’s, he was powerless.

The unnamed boy took a cautious step forward, pressing the sword against Harry’s throat, “yes, it is…what are you doing here?”

“M-my dad sent me here, please just let me talk to the head of the Camp, he’ll know what’s happening. Just put the sword down and we can talk about this,” Harry said barely above a terrified whisper.

“Don’t worry, you’ve caused quite a stir, the whole camp should be here at any moment,” the boy said smiling slightly as if he was trying comfort Harry. Although, this did not have the desired affect and this warrior had a sword against Harry’s throat. The dragon behind the warrior huffed as if annoyed to be kept waiting by the camper and it’s leaders.

Harry soon remembered the black dagger that was tucked into his belt, the portkey that his father had given to him. He felt his hand twitch towards it as if the dagger was begging to be used. Harry’s eyes flicked down to the dagger it’s inky blackness calling him, begging him to just inch his hand closer to the handle.

Before he could lay a finger upon the dark dagger a voice rang through the field, cutting through the tension between the warrior and Harry.

“Will Solace you get your sword away from that boy at once!” Harry turned as the sword was dropped from his throat, trying to spot his saviour.

Harry was surprised the see that it was a centaur that had yelled at Will, he had never seen a centaur outside of the Forbidden (but not really forbidden) Forest. Harry braced himself for some dreary commentary on the stars positions and his eminent death as this centaur galloped closer to the duo.    

“Harry Potter I’m guessing?” the centaur asked pointedly, as if agitated for some unknown reason.

“Y-yes sir,” Harry said nervously, he had never heard a centaur speak so forwardly, without some vague hand gesture and comment about the nuances of Mars.

“Well it’s good to meet you, young Harry. I’m Chiron the camp manager you could say. Mr. D is our leader here at Camp Halfblood. I’m quite sure at the moment he is enjoying some Coca-Cola at the big house. Let’s get you down there before the rest of the camp catches on and runs up here to meet you. You to Will I want to hear what happened from you. Find someone to swap shifts with and then meet us at the Big House,” Chiron indicated with his head for the boy to go.

Will ran off down the hill to find some poor unfortunate soul to take up guard duty. Harry looked down at his feet, not entirely enthused with the idea of going the meet this mysterious Mr. D.

_‘Mr. D sounds like something out of those gangster films Dudley liked to watch_ ,’ Harry thought to himself with dread.

“Come on Harry, no putting it off now,” Chiron went to put his hand on Harry’s shoulder to guide him down to the Big House. When he made contact with Harry’s bare skin, it was as if his fingers had been doused in an ice bath. He pulled his hand back slowly giving Harry a critical look, “You’re cold my boy,” he stated, suspicion making it’s way into his voice.

“Oh well yes,” Harry said nervously, “I’m from England you see,” Harry had a suspicion that his cold, corpse like skin might be a manifestation of his father’s genes. Although he was not going to tell Chiron that. He was not to tell anyone about his godly heritage until his father said so.

“I see. It must be and English thing,” Chiron said, smiling down at Harry. He would allow the child to keep his relatively obvious secret for now, no need to push the child.

Harry laughed nervously, “Okay let’s get this over with,” walking down the hill toward the large blue house, a faint scent of strawberries wafted towards him, allowing Harry to smile slightly. It was a lovely place. The afternoon sun was hitting the water on the lake, sending fractured light over the camp, the conglomeration of modern and ancient architecture creating a visual tapestry of varying shapes. It reminded Harry of Hogwarts, old and modern bought together in beautiful harmony, but most of all the feeling of home.

Harry gave out a slight sigh, he was glad that no one knew of his godly parentage, if they did, he very much doubted he would be feeling the same. With that thought, dread ran icily through his veins. No one would know until it was entirely necessary.

Chiron reached the house first, walking up the steps they groaned under his weight. He turned towards a portly man in a tacky Hawaiian shirt who was chugging a cola.  

_‘This can’t be Mr. D,’_ Harry thought to himself.

“Harry meet Mr. D the camp director,” he gestured towards the man who was now crushing the cola can against his head.

“What was your name boy? Henry? Welcome to ehh…Camp Holigans…I mean Half-Blood. Try not have too much of a good time here,” Mr. D muttered out in an uncaring manner.

Harry did not appreciate being called boy, it reminded him too much of Uncle Vernon, his back stung with the painful memories. He could still smell the leather of the unyielding belt as it swung towards him. Harry released an unwanted yelp, “I would appreciate it Sir, if you didn’t call me boy. My name is Harry it’s very nice to meet you,” he held out a tremoring hand, he did not wish to shake this man’s hand.

Mr. D looked at his hand in disgust, “I will call you what I please _boy._ I do as I wish or you might have an unfortunate future as a dolphin, little wizard.”

Harry chocked, his disbelief slapping him straight in the face. Chiron was looking much like a startled fish, maybe a carp, opening and closing his mouth like that. Yes, definitely a carp.

“W-what?” Harry gasped out.

“Oh, yes I know you little wizard, I know quite a bit about you. But, something still eludes me…you are no child of Hecate so my question is this…who is your godly parent?” Mr. D smiled looking too much like a shark for Harry’s liking.

“I don’t know, sir,” Harry muttered.

Mr. D frowned, “Don’t lie to me boy.”    


	3. The Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry gets a nice tour of the camp, really relaxing, nothing even happens. Wait that doesn't sound right....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a bit of fun to write :) I've got exams at the moment then I'm done at uni! thank the gods. I've only done 6 months and I'm a quitter but law isn't for me. Anyways hope you enjoy the chapter!!

Harry could feel his world crumbling around him, flaking around his feet, tearing away as the earth attempted to swallow him whole. There was no one there to save him, Mr. D would find out about his father and he would be kicked out of the only place that could allegedly keep him safe. Or he could possibly leave the camp with fins and a blow hole. The ocean was not a safe place for the son of Hades, dolphin or not.

“Come now, the boy had not been claimed, there is no way for him to know who his godly parent may be,” Chiron whispered to Mr. D, attempting to defuse some of the tension, “he can bunk in the Hermes cabin until he is possibly claimed,” he shot Harry a wane smile, his tanned skin wrinkling around his turquoise eyes. 

Mr. D’s eyes rolled around in his head, seemingly more like an act of anger than of exasperation, “fine, send the boy away then come back for a game of pinochle, I still need to win back my drachma from last time.”

“Not this time my friend and probably never, you know I’m better at pinochle than you are Dionysus,” Chiron stated with a long suffering sigh and a cheeky grin. Mr. D started to turn tomato red, Harry wondered if he may explode, coating him in some kind of godly mess. However, a bark escaped Mr. D’s lips, transforming into some bastardised version of a laugh, Harry felt himself shudder, fear running up his spine. The emotional rollercoaster of the pinched faced god was too much for Harry, he obviously had some kind of bipolar disorder but had never touched any form of medication in his life. The highs and lows of Mr. D were an unholy conglomerate of confusion and fear. So much for the god of revelry and wine.

Chiron possibly noting Harry’s emotional state as a consequence of being in Mr. D’s presence for too long, started to guide Harry away from the coke drinking god. Out of the cool shade and into the weak afternoon sunlight, the warm of the dying sun allowed Harry respite from Mr. D’s sudden flushes of burning hellfire and icy winds. A steady stream of treacle like warmth was what Harry needed to calm his frayed nerves. Harry looked back over his shoulder to catch one last glimpse of the god of wine, but there was no one on the veranda of the Big House anymore. Had he just imagined that whole ghastly ordeal? Had he finally after years of wizards, near death experiences and a sudden revelation of his demi-god heritage, gone around the bend? Maybe insanity would be a fantastic form of escapism. Institutions these days are not as bad as they once were in the past. Maybe Harry could sign himself in and spend years in applesauce bliss instead of going along with this whole ‘hero’ act.

Harry sighed as they walked past the strawberry fields, satyrs meandering between the rows of the sweet fruits, creating soft music with reed pipes. The fruit crops seemed to wriggle and grow in tune with the music, Harry’s heart swelled at the sight of magic, he loved the nurturing side of magic, wondering that now as a son of Hades, if he was even capable of this sort of beautiful magic.

“These are the strawberry fields Harry, our camp needs to sustain itself, and you may not have noticed but demigods tend to eat like it’s the last time they’ll ever see food,” Chiron released a small chuckle at his own perceived wit, “and because of satyr’s nature magic we grow strawberries all year round. They’re incredibly sweet,” Chiron whistled to one of the satyrs, who raised his shaggy head and clapped his hands together, a strawberry sailed through the air into Chiron’s hands, “Thank you Grover,” he handed the strawberry to Harry, “here have a taste,” Harry hesitated, “it’s not poisoned my boy, take a bite.”

Harry sunk his teeth into the lush strawberry, nectareous juice burst into his mouth hitting his tongue, “Wow Chiron, this is fantastic!”

“I told you Harry, now come on. I’ll show you some more of the camp on our way to the cabins before dinner,” trotting forward Chiron beckoned Harry further into the camp.

The duo walked across the green grass towards an amphitheatre of some kind, kids were running into the arena in bright orange shirts.

“What’s going on Chiron?” Harry looked up at the kindly centaur.  

“Looks like some of the campers are sparing,” Chiron replied his eyes drifting towards the arena. The sound of clanging swords permeated the air, he did not seem affected by this, instead he looked more like he was pondering the weather of his favourite cup of coffee, instead of the concept of his campers fighting.

Harry in a panic ran forward, he had been chased by an evil mad man for three years, any sound of fighting put him on edge. He reached the entry to the arena and launched himself onto the sand covered ground. There was a boy and a girl fighting each other for everything it was worth slashing at each other with glinting swords. Harry froze watching the swords bounce off each other, a deadly dance of skill and tenacity. The boy’s eyes trailed towards Harry, distracted from the fight, the brown haired girl noticed his relaxed stance and went for the kill. Lifting up her sword she swung at the boy’s neck, her face pinched in vindication. Time stopped, the arena swelling with spectators were silenced by Harry’s horror, the light breeze stilled and Harry felt as if he was wading through molasses.

Then, time restarted.  Yells filled Harry’s sense, the campers rising as the sword came closer to the boy’s neck. The boy’s eyes were widening the millisecond of inattention possibly leading to his ultimate end and he knew, but he would not be quick enough to stop the oncoming attack.  

“STOP,” Harry yelled his hand outstretched in his panic, his feet felt as if they had been concreted to the grainy earth. Harry felt a fire sweep through him, burning every nerve ending, setting his eyes ablaze with unabashed fury. The girl’s sword jumped out of her hand, swirling through the air like an interpretive dancer and straight into Harry’s hand.

Again the arena went silent but not from Harry’s metaphysical expression of a moment of stress. Instead it was from mass shock. Harry had just ripped a sword from Clarisse’s hand without touching her, was that even possible? Children of Hecate were strong no doubt, but they had never seen this boy before, no way he had enough training to pull off a stunt like that. Whispers flew around the crowd putting Harry on the knife edge of anxiety. He just had to do something strange on his first day here. Obviously he had a talent for keeping a low profile.

Harry heard a growl coming from the girl as she whipped around to face the boy who had stolen her sword. If Harry hadn’t faced down a basilisk, he could swear that her glare could kill. The boy he had saved was just watching on moronically and slack jawed. Fat lot of good he’d be in the upcoming tussle that was gleaming in this girl’s eyes. 

She started to advance on him, a predator who had just landed eyes on her prey, no matter if she was unarmed or not. Her feet crunched upon the ground pulling her forward towards Harry, who did not even raise the stolen sword to defend himself, “You stole my sword!” spittle flew from her open maw, veins popping up all over her face, maybe she was half dragon. Harry wasn’t too sure, there was only one thing he was 100% sure of and that was that he was most definitely going to die a slow and painful death at the hands of this dragon-girl.

Before the large girl could get any closer and be at risk of creating further bodily harm to anyone, Chiron galloped into the stadium, “Clarisse!” he wedged himself between Harry and the dragon-girl who was apparently named Clarisse.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He asked her as if he was talking to some petulant toddler.

“He stole my sword with some weird magic trick,” she murmured, put out by the condescending looks that were being sent her way, her hands gesturing madly towards Harry.   

“You were going to kill that guy!” Harry yelled, “What was I meant to do? You were going for his neck! Do you even have a license for this?” waving the sword around like a piñata stick. 

Chiron looked down at Harry, amused, “you don’t need a license for a sword Harry, especially if you’re a demigod,” he let out a throaty chuckle, “I mean come on boy, you have a dagger at your belt,” all of this was true, Harry felt entirely embarrassed, “Clarisse I know you’re not Percy’s number one fan but you can’t go round trying to kill your fellow campers,” it seemed that this was quite a common occurrence. Harry wondered to himself how he could be safe at such a camp where attempted murder was taken upon so lightly, “You’ll be on dishes for a week for this little stunt Clarisse now get going,” Chiron said firmly.

Clarisse huffed out of the arena as if doing the dishes for a week was an unfair punishment against her. Chiron turned to the slack jawed boy, waving him over. The boy was pulled over by the hand as if he was connected by a piece of invisible string, his feet dragging into the ground.

“Now Percy, you know distraction in a fight can be deadly, what was that all about?” Chiron questioned kindly.

“I’ve seen his face before,” Percy whispered.

Harry was incredibly confused, he lived in England for the love of the gods. Allowing a nervous laugh to escape his lips Harry muttered, “How could you? I’m from England. Where have you seen me before?”

“The Underworld,” Percy replied his face seemed to cover itself in shadow.

Harry’s jaw dropped, _‘shit.’_


	4. The Cabins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some misadventures on the way to the cabins...who is Percy's father and what will Percy discover about Harry?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey ya guys! This is the longest chapter I’ve written so far, literally at least triple what I would normally write for a chapter because I was enjoying it so so much! I hope you’re all doing well in the crazy world. I’ve just finished all of my uni exams! SO I have a lot more time on my hands to give you guys more chapters. If you want anything in the story that I think is a cool/awesome idea just message me or put a comment in and I'll always reply because I love you all. 
> 
> Also I noticed that I didn’t have a disclaimer on this story (Rookie error) so I would just like to say now that even though I wished I did, I do not own Harry Potter or the Percy Jackson series. Those rights go to J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan respectively.

Harry stared at Percy, mimicking his slack jaw. This boy, this Percy, had been to the Underworld and survived! He’s not even a son of Hades! Harry felt a stab of jealously, he hadn’t even travelled to his father’s domain before and this boy had been there, he half hoped he had a terrible trip. He entered into his father’s home, with or without consent and gotten back to this beautiful place. A scowl marred his features, chill fell over the arena, the shadows elongated, shifting into features of tortured faces and writhing animals. A shiver ran through the attending masses, a ripple in an icy pool.

“The Underworld?” Harry asked feigning the blissful ignorance that he so wished for. His hands twitched slightly, he could feel every vein in his body throb in anticipation for a fight, each nerve ending sizzling, creating a map of trepidation throughout his body. He could almost hear the whisper of his clone-like father in his ear, informing him of important battle strategy, the finest way of which to weave a web of delicate lies to escape this mess, but alas Harry was on his own. He was no Hades, no matter how physically similar. He stood in solidarity, allowing terror to wash over him, leaving him cleansed and ready to fight, shoulders tense, bony fingering inches away from his obsidian dagger.

“I can’t exactly place it,” Percy sighed as if contemplating a complex math problem, “it keeps slipping from my mind like mist that I just can’t seem to catch,” his fingers dancing slightly at his side as if he was weaving his wispy memories between his knuckles.

Harry couldn’t help but let out a small snort of laughter, he had not expected some sort of metaphor to sprout from this boy’s mind. His nervousness was washed away by Percy’s vagueness, a small smile threatening to break through and play around his lips. His whole body liquidised in relief, he thanked his father for whatever seed of deception he had sowed into this boy’s mind, he obviously saw some kind of likeness between him and his father but it was not to the extent of discovery.

“Okay Keats, whatever,” Harry exclaimed, sarcasm lacing through his words with amusement. The glooms that had permeated the arena began to disperse with Harry’s growing bemusement. The tension, dissolving rapidly, puddled around Harry’s feet, seeping into the ground, forgotten by the onlookers.  

“Who?” Percy replied, confused again. It seemed that this boy spent his time eternally confused. Harry wondered if that got dull sometimes, continually being behind the ball. Another smile graced his features at the thought, lighting his mood dramatically, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

“I believe Harry is making reference to Keats, a very famous poet. Who was funnily enough one of our more successful alumni from this very camp,” Chiron entered the conversation with a wary smile, his eyes leaving hot trailers over Harry’s face in barely concealed suspicion. The wizard’s stomach rolled in apprehension, the waves crashing against his abdomen in fear.

Percy did not notice the distrust that was trickling steadily from Chiron towards the raven haired boy; instead his features contorted with embarrassment for his lapse in knowledge. Heat leaking into the apples of his cheeks, the blood racing to the tips of his ears alerting everyone to his mortification, “Oh,” Percy stated, an uneasy laugh escaping crookedly from his lips, “I didn’t know that,” his head dipping slightly.

Harry did not believe it was anything to be even close to embarrassed about; he only knew of Keats because Hermione had thrown one of his books full of flowing prose at his head in a fit of frenzied anger and stress. He had only cracked open the poet as a curiosity, a mere passing fancy. He had not been able to decipher much; the dramatic metaphors had done nothing to reach into his heart and take a squeeze. Hermione had said it was because he didn’t appreciate the subtleties of exquisitely written prose, but Harry had suspected it was more due to the fact that it was simply useless. He couldn’t defeat Voldemort by reciting the words of Keats, possibly moving the mad man to tears, convincing him to leave his lifestyle of fear mongering and instead turn to a quiet life of reflection. Harry struggled to keep his peals of laughter at bay as a consequence of these ludicrous thoughts.

“Don’t worry mate, I only know about him because my friend threw the book at me, literally, it really hurt as well. I’m pretty sure I still have a bruise,” Harry chuckled rubbing his head slightly causing his already untameable mane to become more frenetic atop his head.

Percy mirrored his smile, letting out a sigh, he didn’t really want to be embarrassed in front of the new kid, “So how long have you been here Harry?” Percy asked curiously, unconcerned that dozens of campers were watching the conversation with avid interest.

Harry opened his mouth to reply but Chiron interrupted, “Harry only got here about an hour ago, I’ve been showing him around the camp. Well attempting to show him around the camp before he came in here to stop Clarisse from decapitating you,” Chiron’s eyes twinkled much like Dumbledore’s with jollity.

“Oh yeah. Thanks for that, although I obviously had it all under control,” Percy said, flicking Harry a conspiratory wink as if they had just pulled off some kind of elaborate bank heist. 

“No problem, I’m sure you could have handled it,” Harry shot back, his tongue shimmering sliver with wit.

Chiron smiled slightly as the boy traded vocal blows, trying to outdo each other in their verbal sparring, “Percy how about you take Harry to the cabins and show him where he will be staying? That would be a great help. I need to go to the archery range and make sure those children of Apollo are still shooting straight,” he said, placing a large hand on the boy’s shoulder nearly making his knees buckle under the pressure. Percy although seemed used to this and just smiled up at his mentor with some kind of infantile adoration, nodding his assent to Chiron’s request. Much like a son looking up at a father who he believed could do no wrong at all.

“Right well I best be off,” Chiron said, “All of you clear off, you either have chores or training to do, there is no need to be here any longer,” raising his voice slightly to the crowd, they all scattered eager to obey their camp leader, “and Harry,” he said kindly, looking down at him from his high stature, the sun glinting behind him creating a hazy halo around his wild hair, “if there is anything you need, or anything you wish to tell me just come and find me. I am always an open ear for anyone that asks,” his impression of a younger looking, horse-like Dumbledore was impeccable in Harry’s eyes. He wondered where the centaur’s Oscar was, thinking along these lines, Harry mused that Chiron, with his chiselled features, would have made a fantastic James Bond.  

“Thank you, Sir. I will make sure to come to you if I have any questions,” Harry said, amused by his own thought he allowed himself to smile at the centaur that he wished to form a closer relationship with over his time at camp.

Chiron grinned at Harry’s words, turning tail, he galloped off to what Harry could only assume to be the elusive archery range.

Harry turned towards Percy awkwardly, “so, where are these cabins I keep hearing?” his fingers running through his messy tresses trying unsuccessfully to smooth out the unruly bird’s nest.

Percy just laughed slinging his tanned arm over Harry’s skinny shoulders, “Just over here behind the tree line,” Percy indicated with expansive, grand gestures, “you’re going to love it here man!” he spoke with such casualness as if he had known Harry his whole life, “I mean you might have to deal with the Aries kids being rowdy and the Aphrodite kids being conceited but everyone here is really cool, especially me of course,” he rambled on, his eyes roaming the vast stretches of land that Camp Half-Blood held within its borders. Percy guided Harry towards the leafy trees that he had signposted earlier. He bought Harry to a stop before the gnarled roots of the ancient vegetation, turning him so they were standing face to face, his eyes danced with curiosity.

“Just tell me man, how did you do that with Clarisse?” he asked placing a placating hand on Harry’s bony arm, “Woah you’re really cold dude, anyways, I didn’t want to say it in front of Chiron but you really saved my butt back there. I was pretty sure she wasn’t looking to give me a close shave. I think she wanted to send me to meet Hades for a second time!” he exclaimed, something close to fear entered his voice with the knowledge that he was so close to death just mere minutes ago and by the hands of one of his fellow campers. Clarisse’s actions inspired disgust in him, as if he had tasted something perfectly foul. No matter how much he disliked Clarisse, most of the time with a burning passion, he would never stoop so low as to try and kill her as she had him.

Harry searched Percy’s face, acknowledging the flickering emotions that emerged upon that stretch of sun tanned skin, observing the fear and revulsion that his fellow camper was experiencing. He didn’t even flinch at the mention of his father’s name as he did not wish Percy to meet him a second time either. Such thoughts sent him reeling, images of him newest friend bleeding out as cold as stone, flashed before his eyes. Lost in his own morbid thoughts he nearly neglected to answer to the simple, yet incredibly complex question that Percy had posed to him. Would the Ministry punish him for telling a demi-god? Were they apart of the so called, ‘magical world,’? Even though this whole different society existed without their knowledge? Harry came to the conclusion almost immediately.

He frankly didn’t give a damn.

They hadn’t done anything for him, that magical world, only held him up to some unattainable standard of being. How was it really magically? Full of hateful, demonic bigots, people out to kill him, nasty teachers and fickle students. His friends and pseudo-family were the only elements of the magical world that he kept close to his heart, tucked away behind all the hurt, where no Minister or his goons could reach it. Besides what was more magical than the gods? He was in his father’s world now, a beautiful new form of escapism, exactly what he needed to get away from him dreadful relatives. He could thank his father one hundred times and it would still not be enough to express the sincerest gratitudes of his heart. If a quarter of the people here were as nice as Percy then he was happy, no one saw him as The Boy Who Lived, instead he was just another undetermined demi-god and it felt fantastic. Elation filled Harry, bubbling to the top of his being and overflowing like a glass held to long under a running tap. He gave Percy a 100-watt smile, lighting up his face completely, his facial muscles ached from all the smiling but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“It’s not like everyone isn’t going to know by dinner anyway so I might as well tell you,” Harry stated ruefully, it was true the whispers were running around the camp like hyper children who were just given as many lollies as they wished for, “it was magic Percy, I don’t know if my magic is some kind of gift from Hecate but it’s real, there’s a whole other world out there Percy. I’m from the magical world in Britain until I got sent here by my godily parent…although I have no idea who it is of course,” Harry said back tracking, “I was told that they both died when I was very young but obviously one of them survived I just don’t know who,” Harry sent a silent Percy a wane smile, wishing he would say something in retaliation to ability to nearly dump all of his secrets onto the poor boy.

“Wow! Harry that is seriously amazing! I can’t believe it...I mean the children of Hecate are pretty powerful but also really really rare so this is just…I just…I mean wow,” Percy stumbled over his words dumbfounded but then his face transformed to one of brotherly seriousness, “I’m sorry about your parents Harry, that must have been really difficult for you, I don’t know what I would have do without my mum,” Percy stated with a wistful smile of his face, the adoration that he held for his mother was evidence in his intense, sea green eyes, “but you know maybe if you’re claimed you’ll get to meet your godly parent. I mean they’re obviously not around all the time but it’s better than nothing right?” he asked, not really believing his own words. Sometimes he thinks that it might just be easier if he had no idea who his dad was, so there would never be this gnawing feeling of longing to see his father, knowing who he was but the paternal figure always being beyond arm’s reach. Percy’s brow crinkled and he huffed slightly, blowing his hair out of his eyes in irritation.

“Erm thanks Percy…that really means a lot,” Harry said awkwardly, he had never really been one for affection even with his closest friends and he had only just met Percy, but the friendly sentiment made his heart fly into the clouds with happiness, “So do a lot of demi-gods get claimed?” Harry asked trying to change the subject.

“It depends on the god or goddess I guess,” Percy said wringing his hands, this was always a tough conversation with new campers who were unclaimed, “Aries, Athena, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes and Aphrodite usually claim their children relatively quickly although the other deities, especially the minor gods don’t really seem to claim their kids very often,” Percy kicked one of the tree rooting lightly with the sole of his shoe, trying not to feel too bad for Harry as it was most likely, that, like most of the campers, he would go unclaimed as well. It was becoming so crowded in the Hermes cabin that he was contemplating asking his father to let some of the unclaimed into his barren cabin. Get some life into the place, there was only so much he could do and he had no real talent for interior design. That was more the Aphrodite kids or maybe even some Athena’s children, considering how much Annabeth loves architecture, she might just have a flair for colour palettes and throw cushions as well. Although he could imagine how that would go down with the god of the sea. Like a Tsunami i.e. not well and probably involving quite a bit of destruction with just a dash of mayhem.

“Oh I see,” Harry replied, his face heating up as he knew he would not be claimed in the near future but he did not want to make his new friend feel guilty for his unclaimed status. Were, ‘the unclaimed,’ this world’s version of mudbloods?

“So have you been claimed then?” Harry asked his hands running down the trunk of an old maple tree, allowing his fingers to travel within the natural valleys created by the weather worn tree.

Percy coughed, his face turning a startling shade of red, “Sorry,” he coughed again his hand coming to his face trying to smother the unbidden reaction to his shock, “it’s just I’m used to people knowing who my father is around here I guess…but it makes sense that you don’t newbie,” he laughed awkwardly.

Harry was confused, his father must be some sort of big deal, or incredibly infamous. The wizard allowed the happy charade to continue, he punched the slightly taller boy in the arm, “who you calling newbie? I just saved your life,” Harry said with an equally awkward laugh.

“That you did bro, that you did,” Percy said with a more genuine smile, his pearl like teeth gleaming in the afternoon sun, “well Harry you see when I came here I caused even more of a stir than you did, I’m technically not meant to be alive you see,” Oh no, Harry knew what that meant, a child of the three brothers, “I’m a son of Poseidon,” Percy said, his dark green eyes shifting in turmoil as he waited for Harry’s reaction. He just hoped it wasn’t some sort of fan worship, that was honestly the bane of his entire existence and that existence included monsters.

Harry on the other hand was not even shocked after all these years of the weird and wonderful, it took a lot to be shocked. Although he did think a son of Poseidon shouldn’t get so distracted in a fight even if he did just see a feat of wandless magic. That was pretty poor form, like watching Muhammad Ali go down in the first round, nearly unheard of and in some cases such as these comical. Harry couldn’t think of anything intelligent to say in response to Percy, so he just replied stupidly with, “well…at least it wasn’t Zeus.”

Percy’s eyes bugged out of his head as the sky rumbled as if discontented, it was discontented, Zeus throwing a hissy fit at some mortal demigod and all he could do was laugh. Peals of laughter shook from his body, echoing off the trees and into the surrounding fields. Tears streamed down his face, no one had ever had that reaction before, it was entirely refreshing, and hilarious. Zeus was probably up in Olympus fuming, signing the scrawny boy’s execution notice, which just made him laugh harder. Of course a mortal gets Zeus’s toga in a twist. Such a drama queen. He had never met anyone who would critique the gods so openly other than himself. This kid had some real guts.

Harry just watched on, holding in his laughter until he could keep it in no longer, it burst forth, forcing its way out into the open.  He clutched at his sides imagining Zeus’ face, he saw it as if he had eaten some kind of rotting fruit or stepped in some dog poo that he didn’t see on the side walk. That just made him laugh harder, the force of his laughter turning into hack coughs. He stood up wiping away a stray tear.

“Don’t go saying that sort of thing in front of Annabeth when you meet her, it’ll make her head explode,” Percy said grinning. Harry knew this was code for, just say it when I’m around so I can watch the free entertainment, “I like you Harry, you know what’s up. Don’t let the whole god thing dazzle you too much, there are a lot more important things to do then worry about those gossiping women,” Percy stage whispered as if he knew the gods were listening, Harry guessed that they probably were as another rumble of thunder, rolled through the clear afternoon sky.

_‘Zeus is going to be my biggest fan,’_ Harry thought to himself ruefully, his father would be proud.

“Come on Harry lets go check out the cabins,” Percy said racing through the trees waving at nymphs on the way through, dragging the skinny boy along with him until they broke out into the clearing and were facing the colourful cabins. Percy turned around, Harry was looking back into the patch of trees that they had just run through hazily, his shirt was ripped a little bit at the collar and his hair was more of a mess then when they had entered, “What happened to you Harry? Did you trip over or something on the way through?” a klutzy demi-god is just what they needed.

“N-no there were some very pretty girls coming out of those trees,” Harry whispered with a small smile on his lips, he was pleasantly buzzed.

“Yeah those are forest nymphs watch out they’re a bit…flirty,” Percy was putting it lightly, those girls were just itching to get their hands on a young demi-god and not just for some innocent flirting, “come on Harry just forget about them I’ll show you my cabin first because it is obviously the greatest,” the son the sea said with a glimmer of humour in his eyes, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

“Easy for you to say I think I’m in love,” Harry throws back sarcastically, the magic of the tree nymphs wearing off the instant his eyes landed upon the eclectic cabins, each a perfect representation of the chosen god or goddess, “I can have a guess which cabin is yours shark boy,” Harry said, his eyes drawn to the low, sandy looking building his feet moving as if on their own accord towards the cabin. Brushing past Percy, Harry moved closer to the cabin that seemed to emanate sea breeze and sandalwood allowing the soothing scent to wash over him. Harry waited at the door for Percy to show him around, running his hands over the shells that covered the walls, wondering if Poseidon had designed the cabin himself, it definitely had some sort of masculine charm.  Although, it was more likely that he got one of his underlings to actually supervise the construction of the building, the sea is so changeable and in sea lagoons, incredibly lazy. Not that he would express that little opinion to Percy in the infancy of their friendship.

“I guess you are a bit enthusiastic to have a look,” Percy smirked, a smug thrill shooting through him at the thought of someone liking his cabin. He didn’t get many visits to his cabin except from Annabeth and Grover when he was at the camp. Although he was scheduled to leave that afternoon for some search for Pan, globetrotting, literally trotting. So there goes one visitor but Harry might be a new friend to add to the mix of misfits.

Harry didn’t respond to Percy’s quip, just staring at the cabin, as if he was willing the door to open to make his first step into the world of demi-gods, gods and misadventures, “Come on Percy I want to see your cabin before I’m thrown into the discarded pile in the Hermes cabin,” Harry said rolling his eyes.

Percy sighed, opening the door for the strange demi-god, he felt a puff air go past him and now the small boy was in his cabin looking around with wide eyes. Taking in the tonal blues, greens and greys that he had become so used to over the last year. Harry seemed to be carried by some primordial force towards the only light source in the room, this being the salt water spring that sung sweet, trickling tunes of the ocean throughout the cabin. Sticking his fingers into the cool sea water Harry asked, “a gift from your father?” his voice tinged with envy.

“Yes, it’s pretty useful for Iris messages,” Percy shrugged, trying to pass the gift off as a small thing although it filled him with pride to just set eyes upon the sparklingly spring.

“What’s an Iris message?” Harry asked with small amount of trepidation giving Percy a cautious look.

“Oh, yeah it’s like…a skype call I guess but through a rainbow, it’s all a bit Wizard of Oz for me but hey, it works and I get to call my mum,” he shrugged, rubbing his arm throughout his explanation.

“Wow really?” Harry said in wonder, “that sounds a lot cleaner than Floo calls,” the memories of his first experience of travelling by fire sent a shudder down his spine, kicking into nearly every vertebrate on its way south.  

“Floo calls?” Percy says, the shoe now on the other foot, “What in the underworld is a floo call?”

“I guess it’s a similar principal to Iris messaging but instead of a rainbow it’s fire, which personally I think sounds a lot cooler,” Harry crosses his arms over his chest, faking a smug grin, “How about in the future we swap our instant messaging techniques? I think that could be a fun idea,” laughing at the idea of Percy covered head to toe in soot and ash.

“Y-yeah okay that sounds like it could be fun,” the son of the sea gods stuttered out nervously. Travelling by fire did not sound safe at all and he was no son of Hephaestus, he’d take a bucket over cold water over a roaring, potentially dangerous fire any day.

“Don’t be too nervous when the time comes, the flames aren’t…flammable I guess,” the boy wizard stated, confused by his own word choice, “How about you show me the other cabins now?” they both ambled over to the door, as Harry opened the door he felt his retinas burn in the bright afternoon sun, he hadn’t realised how dark it was in there. It felt nice to have the sun warm his cold, corpse like skin. It’s not like he’d been in a mortuary his whole life, Harry was incredibly irritated with how icy his skin was and if it was possible he thought he might actually be becoming paler. Could a fully corporeal human being go translucent? Because if so Harry was winning that race to the bottom.

_‘Maybe if I just stand in the sun for 15 hours a day I will get some sort of tan,’_ Harry mused as he walked to the middle of the clearing in front of the cabins. His thoughts were cut off as Percy began to talk.

“Okay so the cabins are kind of shaped like the omega from the ancient greek alphabet,” Percy explained his hand created the omega in the air to demonstrate, “Erm so you’ve got Zeus and Hera together, for obvious reasons although Hera doesn’t have any demi-god kids and Zeus hasn’t had one since this treaty thing...anyways that basically means that those two are for show, as well as Artemis’ cabin as she is an eternal maiden, but I like her cabin at night time the silver kind of glows and shines which is pretty cool. Apollo’s cabin is the opposite of Artemis’ it’s basically its own mini sun during the day which is a killer when you’re playing basketball cause the light can get in your eyes, I wouldn’t look at it straight on if you can help it,” Percy says turning towards Harry who had his hand up to his face to shade his eyes from the harsh rays of the Apollo cabin, “I’m not going too fast am I?” Percy asked.

“No, No I’m fine. Zeus, Hera, Artemis are only for show and Apollo is basically an all-day disco I got it,” Harry grins dopily.

“Right. So anyways from there you’ve got the Aphrodite cabin, I tend to stay away from there…and then there’s her husband’s cabin,” Percy says pointing to the warped metal cabin of Hephaestus, “If you need a sword sharpened or your phone fixed I would stop by at the Hephaestus cabin, Charles Bendecroft is the sort of cabin leader there and he’s an awesome guy. I’ll introduce you to him later. Continuing on there’s the Ares cabin, usually they’re playing some sort of heavy metal music in there but they’re being strangely quite this afternoon,” suspicion trickling into his voice, “I would watch out for the Ares cabin in the next few day Harry they might be planning on getting back at you for stealing Clarisse’s sword,” Harry blanched, “It’s nothing to worry about though,” he says clapping the raven haired boy on the back, “They’re all bark and no bite…most of the time…okay moving on, sorry. Then there’s the Demeter cabin,” the Demeter cabin that Percy had indicated to was covered in rare flowers and exotic plants. Some of which Harry swore he had seen growing in warehouse three, last year. He had never been fantastic at herbology but Harry was sure that he saw a mandrake wailing in the Demeter gardens.

“They you’ve got Mr. D’s cabin or Dionysus by his godly name, he’s got two kids in his cabin although I struggle to remember their names. I think I do it subconsciously to get back at him because he’s always forgetting mine,” Percy says with a small laugh.

“Don’t worry he forgot my name too,” the boy who lived replied with an eye roll. He wasn’t Mr. D’s greatest fan.

“He does it to everyone so at least we don’t feel left out. It just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside,” Percy says with a good amount of venom, “okay and then there’s Athena’s cabin, my friend Annabeth is a daughter of Athena although I’m surprised she’s not around here making some kind of adjustment, she’s really into architecture as are most of her siblings. As a consequence of that they’re always working on making their cabin a little bit more awesome,” Harry agreed awesome was the right word, the beautiful tonal greys were perfectly complimented by the large owl, the symbol of Athena, that hung over the door. Everything was satisfyingly proportioned to upmost perfection.

“Lastly, is the cabin you will be staying in, that being the Hermes cabin. It’s pretty busy in there, don’t worry I know, I was in there for a few nights before I was claimed. I would recommend trying to find a space and then just calling it your territory and watch out for sticky fingers the Toll brothers are notorious for stealing precious belongings and playing pranks. So that’s all the cabins I guess, got any questions?” Percy asked, slightly winded from his extended monologue surrounding the Camp Half-Blood cabins.

“Yeah…just one,” attempting not to give himself away Harry acted casual, “I heard something about the Big Three but by the looks of the cabins it’s only the Big Two? Also why do none of the minor gods have cabins? I mean they must have children in the Hermes cabin? Wouldn’t a good way to solve this overcrowding problem be to create cabins for every god and goddess who had a child?” he felt a twinge of empathy for his father and his previous children who had not even been afforded the right to have their own cabin. The Underworld in itself was a reflection of Olympus, the dark mirroring of its splendour and it was equally dazzling, or so he had imagined. There was really no reason for Harry’s father not to have an honorary spot.

Even more so the minor gods and goddesses who resided on Olympus or worked for Olympus but were not afforded cabins due to their minor statuses in the eyes of the all-seeing Zeus the wonder kid.  Therefore because of his discriminatory actions, all of their children are stripped of their godly identities and put in one cabin together and marked as mediocre in the eyes of the gods. It was incredibly cruel to bundle kids together like sardines in one cabin.

Percy thought about his response to Harry. He had been thinking along similar lines although did not notice it until the begging of this summer. I guess as one of the unclaimed the sting of possibility of being the child of a minor god was a very real threat and therefore felt the lack of a cabin more keenly by Harry.

“Well Harry the Big Three are the Three brother; Hades the oldest child, Poseidon the middle child and Zeus who is the younger child. However Hades doesn’t have a cabin because he doesn’t come up to Olympus, he works in the Underworld and therefore had not right to a cabin,” Percy states forlornly and was gifted with a scowl from Harry, “Then the minor gods and goddesses don’t really keep up with their kids or bother to claim them so there would be no point to building the cabins,” Percy’s hands came to his temples and ran small circles into them, “I’m not saying it’s fair it’s just the way it’s always been,” dropping his hands to his sides Percy looked at Harry who was mumbling under his breath.

“What did you say Harry?”

“I said that the gods should be told to claim their children and take responsibility for their actions!” the last part said more at a yell.

The sky rumbled and the ground shook even inside the enchantments of Camp-Half Blood. Taliah’s tree with it’s weakening defences was not protecting the camp from the god’s temper tantrums.

“You gotta stop doing that Harry,” Percy implored his orange shirt dancing in the unnatural wind, “it’s going to get you killed one day. I’m not saying I don’t agree with you, just watch what you’re saying when they’re watching and they are almost always watching,” pointing heavenwards.

With that in mind, how about I take you to meet the Stoll brothers, do you want to go meet them?” Percy grined in a slightly sadistic manner.

He dragged Harry over to the Hermes cabin and knocked on the door, the paint visibly pealing of as he did so. The door swung open and nearly hit the duo right in their noses, each flinching back at the solid pane that was hurling towards them. In the doorway stood two boys who were incredibly alike, the same noses and mischievous grins. Harry deduced that these fiendish looking boys must have been the Toll Brothers.

_‘Oh Gods, I’m in for it now’_ Harry thought as the two boys grabbed him by his arms and dragged him into the cabin, Percy following quickly behind as the door slammed shut.

 

XXX

**p.s. I know the time line is a bit skewed with Grover only leaving in the afternoon but I wanted Harry to get the camp and be aware of Tahliah’s tree dying as well as meet Grover (if only for a second) so I had a little play around (which is completely legal in fanfiction terms ;) ) so just for the record Tahliah’s tree is dying very slowly at the start then in a few days there will be a massive jump so the storyline catches up.**


	5. MAGIC?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry meets more of the gang and he's doing some magic again, hopefully it doesn't get him into too much trouble a son of the Underworld would not do well as a dolphin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back and more tired than ever! Why do I write these at 2am?! anyways thanks for all the kudos! really loving it!

 

 

The four boys were alone in the dark cabin, the inky blackness blindfolding three of the boys within its smoky grip. Harry’s eyes adjusted quickly to the murky room, colours and shapes were still decipherable, the smattering of freckles over Percy’s nose were still clear to his sharp, emerald eyes. The matching mischievous grins that were messily plastered upon the brother’s faces, gleaned in the dimness, pale lips stretching in identical, prophetic chaos. They were definitely Hermes’ children, there was no doubt about it.

“Come on guys just turn on the light,” Percy crossed his arms in irritation, his foot tapping out a quick rhythm upon the timber flooring.

The Stoll brothers laughed, harmonising in the gloom, the tinkling bells bounced from wall to wall, “We just want to have a bit of fun with the new meat is all,” The brother on the left rubs his hands together in anticipation, “We heard that he has been making things fly around the camp, swords and rumours a like. We just want to see if it’s true,” The brother on the right, streaked towards the light switch, a click echoed through the cabin and fluorescent light streamed from the tubes above. It baths the group in an unnatural, pale light; Harry almost sickly, his already pale skin bleached under the bulbs.  

“So let me get this straight…you want Harry to perform some magic for you?” bristling, Percy’s eyebrows went on a walk towards his hairline in disbelief.

“Exactly,” the voices rang out together, bolstering to be heard over the camp-life din from the outside world. The zing of sword, the swoosh of a volleyball being spiked with fervour and the yells from the basketball court are all pressed through the thin wall of the dilapidated cabin. Smiles explode from the brothers, bathing Percy and Harry in their merry glow.

“I don--,” Percy started.

“Hang on Perc I can handle these two miscreants,” an impish look and a wicked wink were sent to the two lanky pranksters, “Now boys wanting to see magic is all well and good but how do I know you’ve got what it takes?” waving his hands like an overenthusiastic conductor Harry continued, “besides, I don’t even know your first names. Do you think I would show my frankly awesome powers, in a private showing to two boys of whom I have never met?” the wizard raised his nose as if he was a French aristocrat looking down upon the lowliest peasant, “Besides, magic is a dangerous thing…I’ll tell you what I’ll show you some magic if you tell me your names and do a simple task for me,” arms crossed over a skinny chest Harry observed the boys.

“That doesn’t sound too hard at all, I’m Travis and this is my brother Conner, at your humble service,” they each bowed mockingly, all knees and arms flailing about.

Percy’s jaw for the second time that day hung around his knees swaying in the proverbial wind. He sputtered, “H-how?”

“None of that matters right now Percy,” a thick British accent filled the cabin, “now boys since you so graciously accepted my offer I will show you some magic if you do this one single task. I will be in need so some transport you see, to New York there must be some kind of magical community there and I am in need of a wand and other supplies so that I can perform some magic to the best of my ability. I assume that you can figure out some mode of transportation for me?” Harry said with a sly look, sarcasm dripped from his voice.

“Easy as pie,” confidence oozed from Conner’s lips, “now show us some magic!”

This was the issue; Harry wasn’t sure if he could do wandless magic on command without his wand, he was no Dumbledore. The boy wizard knew that he struggled with the raging bull that was his ability to control his magic, red and white flashes of panic were usually the catalysts for his most powerful feats of wandless enchantment. He could feel his power sizzling just under his skin, as if a very low electric shock was working its way slowly throughout his body pooling in the centre of his chest. Although, he had no idea how to siphon it out without a physical focus to encourage the magic to perform its bidden task. Apprehension clung to him, pawing at his clothes and tearing away at his thin membrane of confidence. He had always relied on the wand and the words, the incantation, the movement, the swish, the flick. Would a concentration of will work? Belief alone had inspired great acts of heroism and reform but without his wand Harry felt lost like a moon drifting through an endless universe without any kind of planet to orbit around. That was the real depths of his dependency and he wasn’t sure if he could let it go.

His fingers ached with longing for the piece of worn holly that he had grown so used to, so fond of. His hands started to tremor with yearning and with these shaken movements one hand landed upon the cool, metal hilt of his midnight dagger. Harry let a gasp escape his lips, of course! A dagger from a god would have some kind of magical properties and he wouldn’t be surprised if it worked as a conduct for his frenetic magic. His hand wrapped around the golden ram’s head hilt sliding out of his belt he admired it in the fluorescent light. Watching as the artificial radiance danced upon the gilded hilt, then sucked into the inky blackness of the blade that seemed to eat away at the light with ferociousness. His heartbeat was too loud in his ears, excitement coursed through him setting his veins alight. The answer was in his calloused hands, it really should have occurred to him before, the hum of power emanating from it was enough to send a shiver down his spine.

He looks up at his wide eyed companions, who all seemed eager to see an act of magic. With his dagger he doubted that he would even need any incantation to perform feats of magic. The swells of power that he felt crashing through him were enough to drown him, nearly overwhelming him with their sheer intensity. Although to be safe he would use the incantation for now.

“Wingardium Leviosa,” Harry whispered reverently, pointing the dagger towards Percy’s stunned face, watching him, as he lazily floated up towards the roof.  His shoed feet kicked out in surprise trying to find purchase upon the non-existent floor. Conner and Travis looked on in wonder, glee evident upon their faces laughing at poor Percy’s predicament.

“I don’t think you’ll need that trip anymore Harry,” Travis stated from above, his brother joining him in his chuckles.

“You think that’s funny do you boys?” Harry asked cheekily, pointing the wicked sharp dagger at them, “Leviocorpus,” Harry said watching at the boys were snatched up by invisible hands that held steadfast to their ankles, dangling them upside-down. His whole body tingled with the magic that was running through his body in short, hot bursts. It was nice to know that he could keep two spells going at once, he struggled with that with his phoenix tail wand. He would have to thank his father when he saw him, it was no doubt his actions that lead to this power increase in one way or another.

The Stoll brothers were experiencing the effects of being held upside down for too long as their faces were turning a bright shade of red and Percy watched on, chuckles escaped from his lips, amused at the boys’ predicament.

“Come on Harry why don’t you let us down now,” Percy said with a slight smile to the smaller boy.

“Sure,” Harry replied with a cunning twinkly, he released his strong hold upon his sizzling magic, maybe a little bit too fast as boys dropped out of the air like lead anvils. Conner and Travis were only saved from breaking their necks by their quick reflexes, spinning themselves in unison like partnered divers. Percy on the other hand landed lightly on his feet, crouching to take the impact of the sudden fall, his weight distributed to the balls of his feet.

Laughter filled the cabin, Harry was in hysterics, he curled in on himself trying to contain the bouts of uninvited mirth but he could not contain the flood of giggles that were exploding out of him.  The boys watched on bemused at this sudden outburst of laughter, they soon joined in, chuckling at the small, powerful boy.

“That was wicked Harry,” Percy said, sounding so much like Ron that Harry felt a sudden jerk of longing within his heart. The burning stab of pain nearly bought unwanted tears to his eyes, shimmering on the surface of his emerald pools. He hadn’t thought about how much he would miss his friends here. He hoped that he would see them again in the future although there was no way to be certain, nothing was certain for Harry anymore. He had been thrown into an unfamiliar, new world that he knew very little about, charged with the keeping of a nearly impossible secret. He doubted he could even reveal his true self to his closest friends, he didn’t want to be abandoned, transformed into the social pariah that he knew he would become with the common knowledge of his heritage.

He would not let that happen, he wanted to be accepted here.

“Thanks Percy,” Harry said, shyly wringing his hands.

“Yeah Harry that was so cool!” Conner said smiling manically, the cogs visibly turning in his head.

“Imagine all the pranks we could pull with power like that,” Travis was voicing his brother’s thoughts in an excited manner.  A whole new reign of chaos was about to be bought down upon Camp Half-Blood, with chicken feathers, tar, and flying centaurs.

“If we get to prank Clarisse, then I’m in,” Harry stated with unabashed enthusiasm. Conner and Travis cheered with glee and hi-fived Harry as Percy lamented the loss of peace that he would be experiencing in the near future due to the formation of a new pranking team.

It was the end of an era, the Stoll brothers could, in some respects be controlled by Chiron but now there was nothing stopping them and everyone was a target. Hopefully most of their pranking ferocity would be directed towards the Ares cabin as he had no want to be covered in some kind of goo or to be flown across the camp by Harry’s magic.

“The dinner horn is going to go off soon Harry, how about we make our way towards the pavilion and plan our first prank?” Travis asked, his voice filled to the brim with anticipation, grinning. Harry couldn’t help but grin back, the brother’s enthusiasm was infectious.

“Sure, lets go. You coming Percy?” Harry asked, looking towards the son of Poseidon who held his head in his hands, “What’s wrong?” Percy looks up, his face contorted.

“You have to promise me Harry that you won’t prank me. Please I don’t want to go through any kind of torture that you and the Stoll brothers come up with,” he begged with poorly constructed fear. His hands reminiscent of the Virgin Mary in prayer, he fell to his knees taking Harry’s hands as if he was some kind of mob boss as he was begging for his life.

“I can’t promise anything Perc,” Harry said removing his hands with a sly wink, Clarisse may be at the top of his list but he loved to watch the son of the sea squirm. His father would indeed be proud.

Percy just sighed he knew his fate was sealed, he would be pranked eventually by the dream team. He would never admit that he was frightened like some little girl, he was the son of Poseidon, he wasn’t scared of anything.

The dinner horn sounded, echoing around the camp, stopping the usual clamour for a few blessed seconds before the roar of talking campers re-emerged tenfold.

“Well Percy after that Oscar worthy performance I think it’s time to go to dinner. Don’t you? Come along gents,” Travis said, opening the decrepit door with a flourish, it looked as if it would fall off its hinges at any moment.  Harry vowed that he would use some of his boundless magic to fix up the Hermes cabin, if the campers were as welcoming as the Stoll brothers it was the least he could do.

They reminded him so much of the twins back at Hogwarts, the thought itself bought a nostalgic smile to his face. They were just as much of a nuisance as the other pair, he was glad that he could be in on the pranking, a real marauder. 

The sun had just dipped below the distant mountains casting the camp into the inky twilight, large torches were throwing warm light over the lush fields, indicating the path towards the dining pavilion. The group meandered slowly towards the beautiful smells of dinner, floating upon their hunger the boys found themselves in the company of the rest of the camp.

“So Harry you gotta find some space on the Hermes table to park yourself, see we all sit at our parent’s tables,” Travis says slinging his arm over Harry’s shoulder, smiling genially, “Considering we’re a little late it looks like we might have to sit on the ends,” sighing the brothers dragged their feet towards the crowded dinner table.

Harry turned to Percy rolling his eyes, “Isn’t it kind of ridiculous that they have all of us separated by our parents…what happens to kids who have to sit by themselves?” Harry had momentarily forgotten who he was talking to.

“We sit alone,” Percy replied, his eyes downcast, “well I sit alone, there’s no one else who has to.”

“That’s just mad, what a waste of space. I’ll just come and sit with you, there’s no space at the Hermes anyways,” he was indeed correct, the Hermes table was filled to the brim, Conner and Travis were only half on the bench attempting not to fall off onto the cold ground as they filled their plates with food.

“I’m not sure that’s allowed Harry,” he said his eyes shifting towards Mr. D and Chiron’s table at the top of the silvery pavilion. Mr. D’s hawk like eyes found the duo, narrowing in suspicion and Chiron was watching curiously as if he could see what Harry was thinking.

“Who cares if it’s allowed or not?” the wizard asked a single eyebrow rising into his messy hairline.

“I think Mr. D might care, and even though I am the son of the sea I don’t think I want to spend my life as a dolphin thank you very much,” Percy sighed out, his eyes travelling towards the head table.

“Well if they really have a problem with it they’ll come over and tell me to move,” Harry said, “so which table is yours,” he asked, his eyes scanning each table, the pavilion was nearly full at this point with campers, satyrs and nymphs.  Percy sighed, knowing he couldn’t win against Harry, he was too headstrong, stubborn mule.

“It’s just over here, follow me,” Percy replied, flicking his head towards his table, he walked jerkily in dread, he just knew Mr. D would have something to say about this turn of events.

They both felt the eyes that cut laser patterns into their backs with questions, as they walked closer to the table, taking their seats with hesitation and piling food onto their plates. Luscious fruits and perfectly cooked meats Harry could feel himself salivating with desire, he hadn’t had a proper meal in weeks. As he picked up his knife and fork Percy coughed awkwardly, nodding his head in direction of the large bonfire as he stood, his plate piled high with meats and vegetables.  Harry mirrored his movements as they walked over to the bonfire, lining up with the other faceless campers.

Percy turned to Harry, “before we eat we offer food to the gods and goddesses usually our parents…they like the smell,” Percy finished weakly as he reached the front of the line, dropping half of his meal into the fire and whispering out a quick thank you to his father.

It was Harry’s turn next, he sauntered towards the scorching fire, scraping off the juiciest berries and most succulent pieces of meat he whispered too low for anyone to hear, “Thank you for sending me here father,” a small smile pushed up the sides of his lips as he walked away from the inviting flames.

Sitting back at the well-worn table Harry peered at Percy, his face was scrunched up in concentration as he cut into a piece of what looked to be lamb, “Something bothering you Perc?” Harry asked nonchalantly as he dug into his own dinner greedily.

“I’m just confused as to why my father and more importantly Mr. D are allowing you to sit at this table and eat. I was told it was disrespectful to the gods but you haven’t spontaneously grown fins…or anything!” Percy stated in frustration, his hands making valleys in his hair.

“I wouldn’t speak so soon Percy,” Harry whisper leaning over the table, “it looks like a blonde girl and Mr. D are both coming over here, although one of them is waddling. I’ll give you three guesses to get which one of them it is,” the wizard smirks as he returns to his seat calming eating as if there was no raging god coming towards him in a fit of what looked like unbridled fury.

“Henry! What are you doing sitting at the Poseidon table with Puce here?” Mr. D asked his eyes glistening in the fire’s light dangerously.

“Who is this Percy?” the athletic girl from the Athena table asked at the same time, her hands splayed across her hips in agitation.

Ignoring the god Harry asked, “Is this the beautiful Annabeth I’ve been hearing so much about?” Percy’s eyes widened slightly a blush spreading across his face, shocked that Harry had out rightly ignored the god for his friend.

“Yes I’m Annabeth, daughter of Athena,” she stated, jutting her hand out as if it was demanding to be shook. Harry looked down at it faintly amused then shook it lightly, as he released her hand he turned towards Mr. D.

“Sorry Mr. D I just thought I’d introduce myself to my camp mate,” the wizard stated politely, looking slightly abashed, playing the role of the perfect camper, “Yes, I am sitting with Percy here as you see the Hermes’ table is completely full so I thought I might sit with my friend here,” Percy’s heart lightened at being referenced as a friend, “It doesn’t look like Poseidon seems to mind,” indicating that he had not drowned on his own spit or died in some other gruesome, liquid related homicide, “Would it be okay if I sat here?” Harry asked, treacle sweetened his voice, weaving a convincing web around the god, “It would only be for tonight, as you can see I have already started eating. Besides you don’t want to go through the trouble of relocation me…how dull don’t you agree?” Harry drawled, feeling his wandless compulsion charm set into place around the god like a bank vault, incredibly secure. His dagger tingled against his leg, singing with happiness at the devious use of magic.

“Okay you little creep but only for tonight,” Mr. D’s fat finger wiggled in front of Harry’s nose as if that would make him seem more intimidating. He waddled back to his seat and sat down, a coke can materialised in front of him, a contented sigh escaped from the god’s lips as he took his first sip, leaning back into his chair.

Harry’s fellow campers looked on in unabashed shock. Had this weedy, runt of a boy just talked himself out of a punishment from Mr. D? Annabeth most of all was completely shocked, she was a stickler for camp rules and knew that not sitting at your assigned table was a big misdemeanour.

One Aphrodite kid thought it would be a good idea to sit Zeus’ table about 50 years and ended up fried like a cinder by a lightning bolt, the only thing left of her was her fake perm. She was shocked that Harry was still sitting at the table, let alone sitting AND breathing.   

“When did he get here Percy?” Annabeth asked sparing a scathing glance at Harry, whose face was turning red with embarrassment, the whole camp was looking at him as if he had just done six backflips.

“Why don’t you ask Harry that Wise Girl?” Percy said in annoyance at Annabeth’s rudeness, she was trying to ignore Harry but she couldn’t help but give him hard glances a few times. It was against her moral code to break the rules, they were sacrosanct, a representation of all that was good in the world to Annabeth.

“You know Annabeth you remind me of one of my best friends,” Harry said, his eyes distant in remembrance of his frizzy haired friend, “She’s incredibly intelligent, like you I would imagine and a stickler for the rules. I respect that,” he stated, meeting her eyes with intensity, he meant every word. He respected Annabeth for her morals and her veneration of guidelines but sometimes the rules needed to be bent and sometimes snapped completely. This was one of those times, “I didn’t mean to put anyone’s noses out of joint,” lie, “but there was no room at the Hermes table and Percy said that he sat by himself and I didn’t want him to be lonely.”

Annabeth smiled melting slightly at the mention of keeping Percy company. Harry could tell that she cared about her friend more that she cared about the rules and that was saying something.

“I’m sorry Harry you just shocked me a little bit that’s all. I didn’t mean to be rude, I hope you can forgive me,” she murmured out, her pride floating downwards towards her feet.

“Nothing to apologize for, would it be alright if you joined us? It’s nearly the end of dinner and I would love to hear some embarrassing stories about Percy,” wicked grins light up both of their faces as Annabeth sat down, their heads tilted together as Annabeth whispered into his ear, chuckles escaping every so often.

Percy knew that he was doomed, Harry and Annabeth would be unstoppable together, he would never get a moment of peace again.

Harry gave Annabeth a high-five as she giggled, “Seaweed Brain? Annabeth that is genius! I love that nickname, it encapsulates him perfectly. Do you want to hear mine? I came up with it today and I must say I am quite proud of it,” Annabeth nodded enthusiastically, her head bobbing as if she was listening to her favourite song, “Shark Boy,” Harry whispered into her ear as she burst into a fit of laughter.

“I love that movie,” Annabeth wheezes out, “we’re going to be great friends Harry, I can just see it. Percy won’t know what hit him,” she brushed her silken hair out of her face, which had fallen down during her laughing fit.

“You know I’m right here?” Percy huffed out in annoyance, finishing the last of his food with angry bites.

“Oh, we know Coral Breath,” Harry said with a smirk trading another high-five with Annabeth at the quick frankly amazing quip, “Come on people are leaving,” noticing that people had started to leave dinner, “Should we follow them? Where are they going?” Harry shot questions at the duo like a quick fire shotgun. It had slipped Percy’s mind that it was only Harry’s first day here, he had fit in so well, like a missing piece of the puzzle that made up their band of misfits.

“We usually have a bonfire after dinner most evenings,” Annabeth said standing up from her place next to Percy, dragging him up with her, “It’s good fun although watch out, Chiron might introduce you to the camp which is always embarrassing but it is a cross we all had to bare at one point in our lives.”

The group of demi-gods walked over to the roaring bonfire which was glowing a merry yellow bathing the campers in it’s warm light. Chatter swelled like the rising tide, the other demi-gods happily talked amongst themselves although one in a while a camper would send a suspicious glance Harry’s way. Chiron noticed their entry, his eyes locking with Harry’s mirth gleaming in his eyes, it was obvious what he was so entertained about, a smile flashed across his face as his slammed his hoof into the ground bringing the camp to attention.

“Campers! I would like to introduce our newest member, one Harry Potter who is of now unclaimed so will being staying in the Hermes cabin,” a small groan came from the crowd at the prospect of the Hermes cabin becoming even more populated, “I hope you will all make him welcome,” he said with a winning smile out towards the crowd. There was a light spattering of unnecessary applause from the wave of campers.

Harry felt blood rush to his head in embarrassment, his face aflame, he took a seat as quick as lighting, Percy and Annabeth following him eyes following the trio as they sat, “I would also like to congratulate Grover who will be leaving us to go on his quest for the god Pan,” a smallish satyr with minuscule horns stood his hands clasped in nervous tension around his front, “We should all wish him good luck on his journey,” Chiron stated, clapping his hands together initiating a dull roar of an applause. It was becoming obvious to Harry that Grover was very well-liked around the camp as he came trotting towards them a shy smile making its way onto his face.

“Hey guys! How you going? This the new camper Harry?” Grover asked, he was greeted with enthusiastic nods, “It’s nice to meet you man, I wish I could spend some time to get to know you but I best be on my way,” the satyr lamented to the wizard, shaking his hand enthusiastically.

“Nice to meet you too, good luck on your quest,” returning the handshake with equal vigour Harry realised that he very much liked Percy’s hairy friend.

Percy and Grover engaged in a friendly hug, “Be careful out there man, I hope you’ve got enough tin cans to last you the trip,” a wane laugh is passed between them, an uneasy tension that can only be disseminated between two awkward teenaged boys. The satyr turned towards Annabeth, his eyes full of longing, not wanting to leave his friends but knowing it was what he really needed to do.

“I’ll miss you Annabeth,” he said, leaning over to give her a tight hug which was returned with equal vigour.

“I’ll miss you too Grover,” she said her eyes glistened in the fire’s light, unshed tears threatening to be released onto her ashen cheeks.

“Well…I guess I better go,” Grover said running a hand through his tightly wound hair, pulling the curls apart in the process, creating smaller corkscrews upon his head. He turned, his back towards his friends and trots off without a backwards glance, his face contorting with worry but he was determined in his mission. He was ready to find the great god Pan.

Percy sighed turning towards his friends, “I hope he stays safe if anyone can get into trouble it’s that satyr,” laughing airily.

“He’ll be fine Percy,” Annabeth said, drawing to conversation to a close as the sing-a-long started around the camp fire.

A warbling harmony drifted from a group of blonde haired kids from across the fire, their beautiful voices washed over Harry dragging him into a sea of calm. He had never heard the song before, it’s beautiful tones wrapped around him with thin ribbons, squeezing him gently as the fire became a calming blue, smelling distinctly of camomile. It seemed that the calming music had a similar affect upon the other campers, Percy and Annabeth were leaning on each other in a tranquil bliss, their bodies slumped in lethargy. Even the Ares cabin who were commonly rowdy, were seemingly under the musical magic of what Harry could only assume to be the Apollo cabin, using their father’s gift of music to manipulate the atmosphere around the campfire. The tone of the song morphed into a slightly cheerier tune, the fire dancing, licking at the logs with the beat of a bird’s wing. More of the campers seemed to know the lyrics and soon the perfect harmony was joined by raucous yelling from the Ares cabin and awkward titters from the Athena cabin.  Harry thought this conglomeration of voices, might ruin the beautiful, flowing melody of the Apollo cabin but the differing voices enriched the song, warming the atmosphere with the mass contentment. The fire grew, shimmering a happy orange, dancing with the music, swaying of its own volition in the still winter night. Throwing light into the darkness, chasing it away, protecting the campers from the chill, there was no world outside of the fire’s light.

Peace filled Harry’s heart as the songs started to come to a natural end; the fire fading out of existence as the campers started to filter back to the cabins, following the large torches that dotted along the paths. The Stoll brothers made their way over to Harry, eyes sparkling in the embers of the dying fire, their faces cast in shadows, creating new, sharp angles on their faces. The mischief evident on their faces, it licked at the corners of their mouths, turning the corners towards the sky. Annabeth frowned as they walked closer, marring her features and knitting her eyebrows together. She obviously had an issue with the brothers.

_’Oh yeah, definitely Hermione,’_ Harry thought with a rueful smirk, his thoughts trailing back to the wild haired girl, _‘loves the rules but breaks all of them herself.’_

“What do you two want?” Annabeth asked her voice coated in suspicion, her hands twitched in her lap, fingers knitting and unknitting with worry.

“Oh nothing beautiful Annabeth, we’re just getting the strapping young Harry here back to our cabin so he can get a place on the floor,” Travis said with a deplorable, fake British accent slinging his arm around Harry’s shoulder and ruffling his hair. The dark tresses stood on end, as if Harry, had been shocked by electricity.

Harry grumbled, patting his chaotic hair back into place but the four campers had seen the cursed scar on his pale forehead. Heavy silence fell heavily upon the group smothering any conversation that may had slipped past someone’s lips. Percy looked pained as if someone had sucker punched him in the gut, his eyes lingering on the angry looking scar. Every demi-god had at least one scar, fighting monsters tended to have that sort of consequence but he had never seen a scar like that. It was puckered along it’s edges, a great chasm of red flesh between the swell of unmarred skin, shocking across the wizard’s forehead with unhindered force.

“W-what is that Harry?” Annabeth asked, her hand reaching towards the ragged scar as if she planned on tracing the lightning bolt with her dainty fingers. Her face drawn as if all the life had been sucked out of her as soon as her eyes landed upon the painful looking scar.

Harry flinched away from her hand a flush making itself known on his neck, spreading to his cheeks and flying up onto his ears. He scooted further away from his new friends as his cruel subconscious threw insults at him; how freakish he was, there was no way that the others would accept this terrible burden that had been placed upon him so long ago. The voice sounded disturbingly like the malicious Uncle Vernon and sent a shiver throughout Harry’s body making his fingers burn intensely.

Face nearly completely in darkness as the fire had sputtered its last breath mere moments ago, Harry quivered, “It’s nothing really Annabeth, just a scar from when I was little,” his hand made contact with the lush grass underneath him to steady himself, his equilibrium spinning around him in a whirl of colourful panic. As his pale skin landed upon the grass it began to wither, like old paper, dying, Harry snatched his hand away as if he had been burnt. Looking down at his hand Harry felt something akin to revulsion, he never wanted to be the cause of anyone’s death, he had enough of that in his own life, no need to inflict it on any other living thing. He cradled the offending hand against his chest as if to incarcerate it for its misgivings.  It seemed that the other teens were too focussed on his face to really care about what his other extremities were doing. 

“That doesn’t look like a scar you got as a kid mate, besides it’s like…” Percy flushed then made a zig-zaging motion with his hand, “all Zeus-y, and I know how you feel about Zeus,” a small smile flittered across his face, at his own stab at the god of the sky.

“Maybe you’re the love child of Zeus and that’s how he marked you!” Conner says clapping his hands in over exaggerated excitement.

“No!” Harry replied probably a little bit too strongly, “It has nothing to do with Zeus, I’m pretty sure I’m not the child of Zeus, I mean I haven’t spat lightening yet so I’m pretty sure that’s out of the question,” the group of demi-gods tittered in response at that except Annabeth who frowned slightly, not liking the bantering at the expense of the king of the gods. Harry was appalled with the mere thought of being Zeus’ son, the arrogant prick.

“Then where did you get that scar? It must have only been a few days ago, it looks so raw,” Travis said, surprisingly serious, his hands running through his hair at the thought of someone hurt the skinny, black haired boy that sat in front of him.

“Aw heck mate, there’s no need to go all soft on me Travis,” secretly touched that the taller boy cared, Harry continued, “I really did get this scar when I was a kid, only one year old actually. I’d rather not talk about it with you guys at the moment…it’s a sore topic for me,” Harry said with a wane smile, trying to reassure his friends that he was okay.

The faces around him dropped, shame lacing into the teens faces’, stooping their back with the added weight of Harry’s mistrust. The missing information hung in the air, looming over the group with terrible reproach.

“That’s okay Harry, we understand, as demi-gods we stand together, you know?” Annabeth states kindly, her hands fluttering around her face as she tries to convey her feelings, “We understand that it must be something big and you’ve only just met us, but remember we’re always here,” her eyes roaming the others, daring them to disagree with her wisdom.

“I know guys, thanks I guess,” awkwardly rubbing his neck Harry stood, “I’m getting tired though, I think it might be time to go to bed,” looking towards the Stoll Brothers whom he would be sharing a cabin with.

The group stood, feeling the air clear slightly as the sensitive topic was put away for a later date, there was no need to ruin such a nice evening. They start to meander back to the cabins following the pebbly path, the distant sounds of the monsters in the woods echoing out into the inky night. The Stoll Brothers chattering to each other in barley there whispers, casting side long glances at Percy who looked like he was about to wet himself with fear. The Stoll Brother’s pranking knew no bounds, they hadn’t done anything to him yet and he was already terrified, they were just too good and Harry knew it.

As they reached the cabins Annabeth turned, “Goodnight guys, make sure you get into your cabins soon or you’ll be eaten by the Harpies,” a wicked smile lighting up her face as she walked away her blonde hair glistening the in reflected light of the Artemis cabin.

“She’s right I better get going,” Percy says looking towards his cabin with sad eyes, not looking forward to the lonely night that was promised by the intimidating cabin, “I’ll see you guys tomorrow, it was nice meeting you Harry,” waving, he trudges away into the night towards his cabin hands deep in his pockets.

“And then, there were three,” Conner smiles, his arms seemingly with a mind of their own swing over his brother and Harry, “The three amigos, musketeers if you will,” an exaggerated wink is thrown at Harry with a snarky smile.

Travis rolls his eyes, “I must apologize for my dear brother Harry, you see he’s a few cents short of a dollar so to speak,” he says, ducking as Conner goes to swat him, “how about we find you a nice comfortable spot on the floor of the cabin huh?” he asks with barely concealed disgust at the idea of sleeping on the cold floor.

“Actually I had an idea to fix the overcrowding problem, if you guys wouldn’t mind a little bit of magic floating around the cabin?” Harry asked watching as two manic grins appeared on the boys faces as they dragged him enthusiastically towards the run-down Hermes cabin.

The door bursts open apparently of it’s own volition but a head pops out from behind it, innocent eyes staring at the boys as they toppled through the door and over the bodies that were strewn over the floor. Moans of displeasure came from the kids on the ground as they were kicked in various areas by the rushing boys.

“Everyone! This is young Harry,” Travis yelled above the dine, looking out at the displeased faces, groans and mumbles of discontent emanated from the crowd making Harry blush, “Come on guys! Don’t be like that! Harry has a brilliant idea to make life here a little bit more comfortable, I mean I have no idea what it is as he hasn’t told me yet but I trust that it will be wicked cool and a little bit…”

“Magical,” Conner finishes with a flourish, as Harry’s eyes roll at the boys antics.

The small girl who had opened the door looked at Harry with wide eyes, her mousy hair falling across her round face, she pulled on his ratty sleeve, “Do you do magic Harry? Are you a child of Hecate?” she asks her voice full of awe, “It would be nice to have a brother,” her eyes flooded with tears as the small girl attached herself to his leg in a flurry of elbows and knees, as Harry’s heart dropped into his abdomen.

This little poor little girl was lonely, Hecate didn’t have children often and when she did they were quite powerful, she wanted someone to share this with and Harry couldn’t provide that for her. He stooped down onto his knees, looking at the little girl in the eye as the rest of the cabin watched on at this supposed sibling reunion.

“What’s your name darling?” Harry asked softly his hands resting upon her shoulders in a comforting gesture. Reaching towards her face he wiped away a few stray tears that fell down her cherub like face.

“Marcy,” she blubbered, overwhelmed with the idea of having a sibling, she had obvious been alone for the majority of her short life.

“That’s a beautiful name Marcy,” Harry replied tenderly, “How old are you Marcy?” tucking a few strands of her wild hair behind her ears, cupping her face in his hands, not the least bit embarrassed that the whole cabin was watching the interaction as if it was some sort of engrossing soap opera. 

“I’m s-seven,” she says her little hands balled up at her sides, her face flushing with embarrassment, turning a light shade of pink.

“Okay, seven year old, Marcy, daughter of Hecate. I have to be honest with you, Mr. D, our most esteemed camp director has let slip that I am sadly not the son of Hecate,” Marcy started to cry in earnest, wracking sobs shaking her body, already feeling the keen sting of the loss of her potential brother, “Hey now little one, don’t cry,” he said, patting her hair affectionately, “Just because your mum isn’t my mum doesn’t mean we can’t be brother and sister. Would you like that Marcy?” He asked, his eyes filled with affection.

As quick as a flash there was a cry seven year old in his arms, hugging him fiercely, sparks flying from her fingertips as her mother’s gifts were triggered by the emotional onslaught. He continued to pat her hair looking up at the Stoll Brothers who had amused grins upon their faces as he was shocked by her underdeveloped magic.  

“I-I would r-really like that Harry,” she whispers into his neck, her tears running down onto his shirt making it seem as if he had been standing out in the pouring rain. She squeezes him tightly then releases him, pulling away her face is red and splotchy from cry, her camp shirt askew. She looked out at her fellow cabinmates, her face turned an even brighter shade of red, her head dropping to her chest in embarrassment. Harry stood and pulled her protectively into his side, wrapping one arm around her.

“What are you all looking at?” seeing smirks within the crowd at the touching scene, eyes were averted at his outburst, “Come on Marcy, I want to show you and the boys here some magic of my magic. Would that be good?” He asked her, his eyes scanning the crowd, counting the people within the cabin and calculating how many bunks he would need to make.

“Yes!” all three of the aforementioned demi-gods said in excitement, Conner was nearly bouncing off the walls and Travis looked like he might have peed himself a little, Marcy just looked a little awed.

“Okay so I was thinking some kind of undetectable extension charm so the cabin will look the same from the outside but of the inside, Hermione told me about it once or twice and I reckon I could do it. Then I could just do a duplication charm on the beds or something of that nature but I just need to figure out how to make in permeant or just keep feeding it power until the beds are no longer needed, I guess that is another option,” Harry rambled nervously, this was a big feat of magic and whilst he was sure that he could do it with his newly discovered magical talent, he was worried that he may just muck it up.

His magical mumbling was met with confused faces, “What?” Travis asked looking like a lost puppy.

“Never you mind,” Harry replied with a razor sharp smile.

He once again had many onlookers within the cabin as he released his light destroying dagger from his belt. An icy chill ran through the cabin as if a dementor had just floated to the floor, everyone took an involuntary step back from the wizard. Wariness permeated throughout the cabins as Harry’s face seemed to gain a sickly pallor, the shadows lengthing and melding around him, pliable to his every command. Harry hadn’t noticed this sudden change in atmosphere instead, he was concentrating on the shape of the bunks, the suppleness of the mattresses, the downy softness of a single duck feather to create his metaphysical pillows, the extension of the cabin as if it was one of his own limbs, pushing the walls out. He felt the small tremors first, the wracking of his own body as power was pushed out by some primordial force through the dagger, forcing the charms to bend to his will, his wish to make the camp that he would call home a better place for everyone in it. No matter who their parent was.

A dark wave went through the air causing the whole cabin to shiver as if someone was dancing the cha cha on their graves. Emerald eyes snapped open, pale hands clenched the dagger in concentration, a deathly quiet settled over the cabin.

Suddenly the walls shifted like galantine, moving, liquidising the timbers until they moved further outwards, enough to accommodate the whole cabin and then some. Out of the shadows appeared metal bunks, exact replicas of the bunks that were scattered within the original cabin. Blankets accompanied them with soft, downy pillows quickly following in pursuit, settling upon the beds.

Then it was over.

More silence.

 


End file.
